The Misadventures of Mike Schmidt: Making Money
by TheGreatElisaMousy
Summary: THIRD INSTALLMENT. The animatronics have finally recovered from their realization, but Freddy's isn't out of the woods yet! Income had gone down a lot, and if they don't get it back up soon, it's bye-bye to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Now, it's up to Mike to save the pizzeria and his animatronic friends.
1. Chapter 1

**And we're back with more Misadventures~ This is probably going to be one of the shorter installments, but we shall see, hm?**

* * *

Mike Schmidt stepped into the Manager's Office, just as nervous as he had been every other time he'd been called in there. None of it had ever been bad, but there's a first time for everything, and being called into one's boss's office really felt like being called to the principal's office, at least to Mike.

"Schmidt, I've got some bad news," Valerie Logan, the Manager of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, spoke.

"What's going on?" he asked, concerned. He really hoped nothing was wrong with the animatronics. Over the last several weeks, they had come to be his good friends, and he had just recently helped them overcome the horrors that came with the realization that all of the previous security guards that they had stuffed into suits were actually human. "Freddy and the others are okay, right?"

"For now, they are," the woman spoke solemnly. "But I'm not sure if they will be for long."

"What do you mean?" Mike queried.

"I just got a call from our bookkeeper," Valerie began. "And he told me that with the way things are going, we'll have to close by the end of the year unless we triple our weekly income, and soon."

Mike froze. Close the pizzeria? They couldn't do that, could they?

"Some members of the staff have complained to me about how we should scrap Foxy and sell him for parts." At Mike's alarmed and somewhat angry face, the woman added, "But I refused. I came here when I was a little girl, before the Bite. Before Pirate's Cove was shut down." She allowed herself a small, nostalgic smile. "Foxy was always my favorite, which is why I never got rid of him."

"So, what are we going to do?" Mike asked. Would she start laying off workers? Because a night guard was not really necessary, his job would be one of the first to go, wouldn't it? He wasn't worried about losing the pay, as he could probably get a night job at a warehouse somewhere. The thing he was worried the most about was that he might not get to see his friends again if he was laid off.

"I'm open to any options that don't involve getting rid of the animatronics," Valerie replied. "I'll try to keep a full staff for as long as I can, but…" she sighed. "There's only so much I'll be able to do."

Mike nodded, understanding the implications of that. _If I have to lay people off, you're going to have to be one of them._ "I understand, Ma'am." He paused. "Maybe I can ask them tonight."

"Thank you, Schmidt," Valerie said with a genuine smile. "That would be greatly appreciated."

 _ **X**_

Mike was sitting at one of the tables in the Dining Area, leaning back in his chair with his feet propped on the table, when the clock struck twelve. Almost immediately, the eyes of the three animatronics on stage lit up and they began moving around experimentally, testing their joints as they did every night.

"Michael," Freddy began in a chastising tone, glancing from the man's face to his feet, still on the table. Mike smiled sheepishly and took them off, resting his arms on the table instead.

"Someone looks a little bummed," Chica commented, noting Mike's overall attitude. Despite the brief smile he'd given, his posture was one of defeat. Something was clearly wrong with the night guard of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.

"Well," Mike began. He didn't want to bring this up with them, since they'd just recently recovered from what they'd learned about their past actions. He didn't want to depress them again, but this was an important topic to address. "Income here isn't what it used to be…"

"Aye, we know tha', lad," Foxy said as he approached from Pirate's Cove.

"He's right," Bonnie commented. "I mean, there are a lot less kids around here than there used to be. Of course income is going down."

"That's not all, though, is it?" Freddy guessed, watching Mike's face. "Something's very wrong."

"You're right, Freddy," Mike told the bear. "If we don't triple the weekly income soon, we'll have to close by the end of the year. And before that, I could lose my job, meaning…"

"Meaning you won't get to come hang with us anymore," Bonnie supplied.

"You realize that means we have less than six weeks to get more people to come here, right?" Chica asked, hands on her hips. "How do you propose we do that?"

"I was kind of hoping you guys would have some ideas," the guard admitted.

"More kids would probably come in if we could walk around during the daytime again," Bonnie commented.

"Or parents would keep their kids from coming because they thought we were dangerous," Chica pointed out.

"Even if either of those things were true," Freddy interjected, "we can't. The pizzeria could easily be sued again for it, and if that happened, there would be no doubt that we'd close down."

Foxy looked away from everyone, obviously feeling guilty again. Despite everything that Mike had told him, he still felt a lot of guilt about the Bite of '87. It was because of the Bite that none of the others were allowed to walk around during the day, even though none of them had done anything wrong. It was all Foxy's doing. Freddy, Chica and Bonnie were free from the blame.

"Hey, you've got that neighbor kid, right?" Bonnie asked.

"Heather? Yeah, what about her?" Mike asked, confused as to where the robotic rabbit was going with this.

"Talk to her," he replied. "See what the kids want. Maybe if you do that, we can try to get Management to do something about it."

"Heather's turning thirteen," the guard informed him. "Teenagers aren't going to be too fond of a children's pizzeria."

"We used to have some arcade games," Chica remembered. "Maybe we could try to get some new ones in."

"And what about the power it would require to run them?" Freddy asked. "Or the money it would take to repair one?"

"It was just a thought," Chica mumbled, crossing her arms.

"Methinks Bonnie was on the right track," Foxy said. "See what the kiddies want."

Freddy nodded. "Perhaps you could even ask her to talk to some of her friends," he spoke. "It would give ideas from multiple perspectives."

"That's a good idea," Mike said with a small smile. "Okay, now that we've got a plan, let's forget about it for now. Don't want it ruining our night."

"You're darn right we don't," Chica said with a nod. "Want some pizza?"

"Do you even need to ask?"

* * *

 **Kind of a short chapter, but I needed to kind of introduce the problem. Next chapter will be Mike talking to Heather (she finally gets to make an actual appearance~) and finding out what she thinks. He may also ask for some advice from another source…**

 **Stay tuned, and review~**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, my second time trying to write this here, as the first time, Word crapped out on me must as I was saving. Don't you just love machines? Anyway, new update policy: To make sure that my story is being read (y'know, just as an assurance for me) I'll only update when getting at least two new review per update. I'm sorry if that came out sounding a little harsh, but it's just to reassure me. Anyway, on with the show~**

* * *

Mike tapped his pen on the empty sheet of paper in front of him. For the better part of ten minutes, he'd been trying to come up with a solution to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza's financial problem, but so far, he wasn't having any luck.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a knock on the door.

Getting up, he answered it to see Heather, his middle-school neighbor, standing at the door.

"Hey Mike," she said with a smile.

"Hey, Heather," he greeted in return. "Need any help on any more homework?"

"Nope," she replied, shaking her head with the same smile. "No homework tonight. But I got a 97 on my last math test."

"That's great," Mike said, smiling as well, now. Math was one of his neighbor's worst subjects, so he helped her study and sometimes checked over her homework, as her parents were too busy with work to do so themselves. Something clicked inside his brain, and he said, "Hey, could you do me a huge favor?"

"Sure," the girl replied. "What do you need?"

"Remember that pizzeria where I work at night, Freddy Fazbear's?" he asked.

"Yep," she said.

"Well, it's not doing too well, financially," Mike informed her. "And if we don't come up with ways to up the income soon, we'll have to close at the end of they year. Have any ideas?"

"No offense, Mike," the girl began, "but I think I'm a little old for a kid's pizza place."

"That's what I told my coworker," the man said, remembering when Bonnie suggested this idea in the first place. "But, I figured I'd give it a try anyway." He paused. "Tomorrow's Saturday. Do you think you could bring a few friends down there, just to take a look and see what you think? Every bit of input counts."

"Sure," Heather replied with a shrug. "Couldn't hurt, I guess."

 _ **X**_

"So, they'll be coming in tomorrow to take a look and see what they think about this place," Mike informed his friends.

"Hopefully, they'll be able to give us something useful," Bonnie said.

"Aye," Foxy agreed. "Otherwise, this ship is sinkin', an' we're goin' down with it."

"There's no way we're letting that happen," Chica commented. "I mean, if this place goes under, what's going to happen to us?"

"We'll be scrapped for parts," Freddy said.

"Don't worry, guys," Mike reassured them. "There's no way I'm letting that happen."

 _ **X**_

"This place could use some arcade games."

Heather rolled her eyes at her friend. She was sitting at one of the tables with Mike and her two friends, Caleb and Penny. Mike had brought them one of Chica's special pizzas.

"Can't do that, unfortunately," Mike said, shaking his head. "We don't have the money to repair one if it breaks."

"Oh," Caleb said before looking back at the Show Stage, where the band was performing. "Well, you could start off by getting rid of those robot things," he added. "They're creepy. It's like they're actually thinking about things, like they're looking right at you." Mike glanced up to see that despite his performance for the children, Freddy's eyes were focused on him. Obviously, the bear was just as concerned about what would happen to the pizzeria as the others, though he hadn't shown it as much as the others had.

"I don't know, I like them," Penny argued. "They're cool, and the bunny's cute." Mike almost laughed, wondering what Bonnie would say to being called 'cute'. "Oh, I bet you could get a lot more people in here if you programmed them to come off the stage and talk to people." Mike had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from commenting on that.

"As cool as that would be," Heather began, "I don't think that they even come close to having the money for that kind of stuff."

"Oh," the other girl said, slightly disappointed. "Maybe you could get some people to dress up in those suits and advertise at the mall or something? You know, get the word out." Mike visibly winced at the thought of putting someone inside an animatronic suit, but none of the kids noticed, as they were once again watching the animatronics.

"We can't do that," the guard informed them. "Those suits weren't made to have people inside them." _Bad things happen if you put someone inside one_ , he thought before immediately chastising himself for it. They were over this now. That fear was long gone.

"What about custom pizzas?" Caleb asked.

"What does that mean?" Heather asked.

"These are some _really_ good pizzas," the boy replied, glancing down at the slice on his plate. "Maybe you could, like, have a list of toppings or something, and people can pick what they want on them. More toppings, higher price, you know? I'm sure a lot of people would like that."

"That's not a bad idea…" Mike commented before remembering that the pizzas everyone loved so much were Chica's pizzas, and she couldn't exactly make them during the day. But if they could take the order one day and then have the pizza the next… He smiled. "I'll bring that up with my manager."

"Cool, because that would be _awesome_ ," Caleb said with a grin. "I would _so_ come here a lot, even though those robot things are still creepy."

Mike really wished he'd stop saying that about his friends.

 _ **X**_

"Custom pizzas?" Valerie asked, looking over at Mike. He'd just walked into her office with the first proposition to increase income.

"Yeah," the guard replied. "My neighbor's friend suggested it, and I think it's a really cool idea. I mean, we'd obviously have to give them the pizzas the next day, but we could say that we'd take extra time and care to get those pizzas done the way people want them or something."

"And then give the order to Chica at night," Valerie concluded. "That sounds like a good idea." She smiled. "Good work, Schmidt."

* * *

 **And that's the end of that one. Next time, we'll see how well this plan worked, if they need another one, and if they do, who will give them said plan. I think the next one will be the final chapter of this installment, but it should be longer, as it will have more content.**

 **Welp, see ya next time~ And remember: review please~**


	3. Chapter 3

**Time to see if the 'custom pizza' idea works~**

* * *

Mike once again found himself outside of the manager's office, knocking on the door. She had called him in to talk again, and he had a bad feeling about it.

"Come in," she said, and he opened the door. "Sit down, Schmidt," she added without looking up from some paperwork.

"This is about the funds, isn't it?" he asked, already fearing the worst.

"That's right," Valerie replied with a nod. "We started up the custom pizza menu two weeks ago, and income's gone up a little." She paused. "But I'm afraid it isn't enough to keep us open. If we don't come up with something soon, I'm afraid we're going to go under."

Mike's shoulders slumped. He'd asked the kids what they wanted, and what they'd wanted wasn't enough. "I understand…" he said quietly.

"We're trying everything we can, Schmidt, but there's not much else we can do…" she replied with a sigh. "But we're running out of ideas."

 _ **X**_

"So, how was your meeting with the boss lady?" Bonnie asked, crossing his arms.

"Are we in the clear?" Chica asked. All animatronics were disappointed to see the guard shake his head.

"No," he said glumly. "I'm sorry, guys. I did the best I could…"

There was a loud thunk as Foxy dropped down into one of the chairs. "Tha's it, then…?" he asked quietly.

"It appears that there's nothing more we can do," Freddy informed the fox, just as upset as the rest of them, but holding himself together much better. "I suppose they will be shutting us down within the next couple of weeks, then?" he asked, looking at Mike.

"I didn't hear anything like that earlier, so we're not giving up just yet," he told them adamantly. He wanted to kick himself. He'd been ready to give up when his friends needed him. There was no way in hell that he would let this place go without a fight. "We'll come up with something."

"I hope so, Michael," Freddy told him. "I hope so."

 _ **X**_

"Yo, you okay, Schmidt?" a female voice asked, drawing the man out of his thoughts. He looked over to see his coworker, Lucy, standing at her register, right next to his. It was one of the slower shifts at the moment, giving them time to talk. "Is this about that whacko night job of yours?" she asked, twirling a strand of loose hair which was dyed magenta today.

"It's not a 'whacko' job," he defended.

"Uh-huh, right," Lucy replied, rolled her golden contact covered eyes. "Tons of people get killed at it, and it's _totally_ normal."

"I told you, that's all over with now!" Mike insisted.

"Anyway, speaking of that job, you get whatever was wrong all cleared up?" she asked.

"Huh?" the man asked, slightly confused before remembering that they only other time they'd talked about his other job was when he had just revealed to the animatronics the truth about the past guards. He had felt like crap, and Lucy had noticed. "Oh, yeah, that's all fine now." He thought for a moment. "Hey, Lucy, I got a question."

"I'm all ears," she replied, leaning forward. "What's up?"

"Freddy's isn't doing the best, financially," he confided. "We already tried adding a few extra features to the menu, but it didn't really work like we hoped it would. Got any suggestions?"

She pondered the question for a moment. "Well, I heard this rumor once that there used to be this fox animatronic that was a pirate."

"That would be Foxy," Mike told her.

"I heard that he used to tell a bunch of stories and stuff to the kids," she continued. "Put him back in action, and I'm sure tons of kids will come back, making profits go through the roof."

"Can't do that," the man said with a sigh, causing Lucy to raise an eyebrow. "It was a part of the deal Freddy's made when it was reopened. If you know about Foxy, then I'm gonna guess you know about the Bite of '87?"

"I don't, actually," Lucy replied. "What happened?"

Mike sighed. He really didn't want to turn Foxy into a bad guy to anyone, but he knew it was the only way he'd been seen after an explanation, and he knew that if he didn't tell her, she'd just look it up anyway. "Well, in 1987, there was this birthday party and Foxy… bit someone. It wasn't his fault," he added hastily. "His programming got messed with, so he couldn't help it."

"Geez, you make it sound like these things are actually alive," the teen said with a raised eyebrow. "They're just robots. So, anyway, Foxy killed some kid."

"He didn't kill him," Mike defended quickly, causing Lucy to raise her hands in surrender.

"Alright, alright, so he _bit_ this kid," she amended. "So Freddy's was probably sued," she added, earning a nod. "And when they finally reopened, they had to keep Foxy out of commission."

"Correct," the man confirmed. "We've still got Foxy, but his area is closed off."

"Well, that sucks," she said, leaning back and tapping her nails on the metal bar. "I'm sure a bunch of kids would love to hear a story or two from a pirate, robot or not."

Mike thought for a moment before breaking into a grin. He had just the idea…

 _ **X**_

"Is there any kind of old television in the back?" Mike asked, standing in front of Valerie's desk.

"There might be," the manager said slowly. "Why?"

"I have the perfect idea," Mike told her with a grin. "I just need a video camera."

 _ **X**_

"What's with the camera, Mike?" Chica asked.

"Come to film our last few weeks?" Bonnie asked, clearly sounding depressed.

"Not exactly," the guard said. He turned to Foxy. "Let's go to Pirate's Cove."

Foxy gave the man a confused look, but complied.

As soon as they arrived, Mike set up the tripod he had borrowed from one of the day workers and put the camera on it. Foxy simply stood behind it and watched Mike curiously as the man rearranged some of the props from his cove. Normally, it may have bothered him, but with only a few weeks left before he and the others would be scrapped, what did it matter?

"What be ye doin', lad?" the pirate asked as the human dragged one of the heavy metal treasure chests filled with plastic coins to the side of the ship, the _Red Fox_ , just in view of the camera.

"Setting up for a little show," Mike informed him. "Your thing used to be telling stories, right?"

"Along with scavenger hunts and playin' pretend, aye," the foxy replied, not quite sure where Mike was going with this.

The man simply grinned, pulling another treasure chest, this one filled with pirate costume gear, partially in view. With that taken care of, he returned to the tripod and turned the camera on, aiming the lens at the _Red Fox_. "Perfect." He turned to Foxy. "Feel like telling a few more?"

Foxy's ears perked up, and even though he was just an animatronic, he managed to sport a huge grin. He knew what Mike was doing. Without another word, he bounded up to the ship, ready to launch into one of his many pirate's tales.

 _ **X**_

Freddy's was closed for 'maintenance', as the public was being told, while Mike and a few others set up another area for the children. It was on the other side of the pizzeria from Pirate's Cove, since they couldn't risk one of the kids getting curious and wandering through the curtain. The story wouldn't sell if Foxy was seen. They'd pulled a few of the smaller treasure chests from the Cove, leaving the larger ones where they were at Foxy's request to Mike. Small cushions were brought out and scattered throughout the area for children to sit on, and against the wall was a large television on a stand, hooked up to a VCR.

"I didn't even know they still made those," one woman said with a laugh as she made sure the connection was secure.

Mike grinned at her and said, "Good thing they are." He held up the four tapes he'd filmed the previous night, and there would definitely be more to come in the near future.

"Do you really think this will work?" Valerie asked. She knew that this had a very good chance of raising business, but at the same time, parents who had been around for the Bite of '87 might not appreciate seeing Foxy again, even just on a screen.

"I do," the guard said with a nod. "Foxy's an amazing storyteller, so I'm sure the kids will love him."

"I hope so," the manager said. "For all of our sakes."

 _ **X**_

The time had come to see if their efforts had paid off. Mike had managed to make another few tapes, so they were up to seven. They should last the day, assuming they would be spaced well enough. He'd be able to get more that night, but he couldn't spend all of his time filming Foxy. He couldn't just ignore his other friends, though the pirate seemed to have an endless list of epic tales.

Having slept the last hour of his shift until opening, Mike was awake enough to watch their final attempt. Some of the more artistic members of the staff had made posters to hang outside the restaurant in hopes of drawing people in to see their new 'attraction'. So far, no one had neared the area, affectionately dubbed 'Kid's Cove' by the staff.

Glancing up, he saw one of the waitresses near the front trying to calm down a couple in their mid forties with a ten-or-so year old daughter.

"I can't believe you're putting that thing back in the show!" the mother was saying. "It almost killed a child!"

"I know, Ma'am, but I assure you, everyone is perfectly safe," the waitress was saying, trying desperately to calm the parents down.

"That's what they all said in the past, when that beast was still operational!" the father growled. "And look what happened!"

"Sir, please relax," Mike said, walking over to defuse the situation. "You can come with me to see for yourself that there's no way anyone's going to be hurt. I promise."

The parents gave each other nervous looks before agreeing and following Mike, their daughter close behind. They stopped in Kid's Cove, where the TV was on, but nothing was playing yet. "See? All safe."

"I wanna see Captain Foxy," the little girl said, tugging her dad's arm. She'd seen the signs and had been enraptured by the thought of a pirate being here.

Mike smiled and knelt down to her level. "Captain Foxy had to go on a long trip," he told her. "He went to explore the seven seas, and won't be back for a long time." The girl looked put out, and the parents looking at the guard questioningly. He grinned and grabbed a tape. "But until he gets back, he left these for us," he told her. "Do you want to see what it is?" She nodded and Mike put the tape in, starting up the 'show'.

" _Ahoy, there, mateys! I hear ye be wantin' ta hear some ol' pirate tales, eh? Well, there was once a time when ol' Cap'n Foxy crossed swords with the cruelest pirate of 'em all, Blackbeard the Pirate…"_

 _ **X**_

It have been four days since they had set up Kid's Cove, and looking at the Cove now, Mike could see dozens of kids sitting on the cushions, some having to share, to hear some of Foxy's stories, in which he acted out countless 'battles' against invisible enemies that the children's imaginations could easily fill in.

"Congratulations, Schmidt," Valerie told him, watching the children as well. "Thanks to you, we're in the clear." She shook her head with a laugh. "I don't know what this place would do without you."

"Hopefully, we won't have to find out for a very long time," the man replied with a smile, watching the image of Foxy fighting off an imaginary Kraken. The children were cheering him on.

* * *

 **Well, that's the end of that one. Up next is Twin Terror! I don't know when that will go up, since I'm getting a little busy, but I hope you enjoyed this one~ Isn't it nice that Foxy's still able to entertain the kids?**


End file.
